Maple Syrup Production Down With Warm Weather

03/19/12 6:06AM

A year after breaking Vermont's decades-old record for maple syrup production,
syrup makers are predicting a less-than-stellar output this year with
unseasonably warm weather during the peak of the sugaring season.

The state's syrup production exceeded 1.1
million gallons in 2011, the first time in more than 70 years it's topped the 1
million-gallon mark.

Syrup producers tell the Brattleboro Reformer
that farms in northern Vermont
are far behind last year's production. They say southern Vermont has fared slightly better, but dozens of sugarhouses
closed up operations this week.

Dummerston sugarmaker Steve Glabach said
although the quantities aren't big this year, the syrup that is being produced
is of high quality.